China's coal-based polyolefin capacity to cross 5.9 mln tons by end 2014 to 10% total polymer production

27-Oct-14

China’s coal-based polyolefins capacity is expected to hit 5.96 mln tons by the end of the year, a sharp surge from 2.16 mln tpa in 2013. This will account for about a fifth of total 30.2 mln ton polymer production in the country, as per sources in ICIS. China’s abundant coal resources provides it with the advantage of boosting polyolefins capacity via a cheaper coal-based technology, compared with the usual route derived from the more expensive naphtha. Because of lower production cost, coal-based linear low density PE (LLDPE) are priced lower by CNY 100-200/ton compared with normal LLDPE. Coal-based polyolefins are only marketed domestically in China. In end-October, 300,000 tpa of new polyethylene (PE) capacity would be added by Ningxia Baofeng, while Pucheng Clean Energy Chemical will add a similar PE capacity and a 400,000 tpa polypropylene (PP) capacity in mid-November. In Shandong province in northern China, Shenda Chemical plans to start up its 200,000 tpa PP unit via a methanol-to-olefins (MTO) technology next month, as per a company source.